The present invention relates to a procedure for the treatment of animals such as pigs in slaughterhouses, wherein the pigs of a supplied lot are unloaded from the transport truck, driven into pens, and stalled in these, after which the pigs are driven out of the pens and over to a stunning apparatus. The present invention has particular utility in processing hogs, but it can also be used with other animals.
When pigs have been unloaded a the slaughterhouse they are stalled for a short time in the pen facilities of the slaughterhouse, in order that they may rest after the transportation. At the unloading and during the stalling the pigs will be appraised by the veterinary inspector, and he will sort out the sick and weak animals, which are unfit for the usual procedure.
The usual procedure for the stalling is that the transport trucks with the pigs drive over to the unloading platform of the slaughterhouse where the pigs are driven out of the transport truck and collectively guided into a driving-in passage, which is connected with a number of pens. The entrance gate into a pen will be opened by the operator, who will lead the pigs into the pen by means of a driving board, until the pen is full. Then the gate of the next pen will be opened, which will be filled in the same way, and maybe supplemented with pigs from the next transport trucks.
Today, each slaughterhouse pen has a fixed capacity of between 40 and 60 animals. However, the loading capacity of the transport trucks arriving at the slaughterhouse may vary considerably, between 40 and 100 pigs per truck. This means that pigs from different truck loads will usually be mixed during the stalling, since the operator has to take care that the pen is not crammed beyond capacity and that the area of at least 0.5 m.sup.2 per pig is available in the pen, as required by the authorities.
When the stalled animals are to be slaughtered, the operator will open a gate located at the exit end of the pen, and the operator will drive the animals out of the pen and into a passage at the end of the pens by means of a driving board. Some plates operated by chains may be provided in the passage which mechanically drive the pigs in the direction of a passage. In this passage the animals will be arranged so they stand one after the other, and then they will be admitted one by one into the stunning apparatus.
U.S Pat. Specification No. 3,487,497 refers to a pen system having a plate in each pen, which plate is movable in the longitudinal direction of the pen. The operator may manually drive the pigs out of the pen by means of the board, after an elevating gate located at the exit of the pen has been opened by the operator. When the pigs have been driven out into the passage at the end of the pens, they will be directed mechanically towards the next passage by some driving plates which are operated by a chain conveyor system.
In the well-known treatment of pigs it may be difficult for the operator to get the pigs into and out of the pens and over to the stunning apparatus because the pigs are in an unaccustomed situation and they will react against all kinds of exposure. The nervousness of the pigs during the treatment at the slaughterhouse will also cause struggles between them and a high stress level. The result of these conditions is that some of the carcasses suffer from rind damages, blood splashings and deviant mean quality. Consequently, this will unfavorably affect the economy of the slaughterhouse.